CBS, NYT regret that Obama-Putin relationship is on the rocks

posted at 12:41 pm on April 21, 2014 by Ed Morrissey

Old and busted: Smart power and reset buttons. New hotness: Cold War echoes and writing off “allies” like Russia. Both the New York Times and CBS News report that President Obama has changed strategies with Vladimir Putin and have shifted to “an updated version of the Cold War strategy of containment.”:

Even as the crisis in Ukraine continues to defy easy resolution, President Obama and his national security team are looking beyond the immediate conflict to forge a new long-term approach to Russia that applies an updated version of the Cold War strategy of containment.

Just as the United States resolved in the aftermath of World War II to counter the Soviet Union and its global ambitions, Mr. Obama is focused on isolating President Vladimir V. Putin’s Russia by cutting off its economic and political ties to the outside world, limiting its expansionist ambitions in its own neighborhood and effectively making it a pariah state.

Mr. Obama has concluded that even if there is a resolution to the current standoff over Crimea and eastern Ukraine, he will never have a constructive relationship with Mr. Putin, aides said. As a result, Mr. Obama will spend his final two and a half years in office trying to minimize the disruption Mr. Putin can cause, preserve whatever marginal cooperation can be saved and otherwise ignore the master of the Kremlin in favor of other foreign policy areas where progress remains possible.

In other words, Obama now plans to treat Russia as America’s greatest geopolitical threat. Golly, who else said that? I’m trying my best to recall, but the Era of Hopenchange keeps calling and wants its fantasy world back.

In addition to sounding like he has no faith Russia will change course, the president sounds like he has no faith in his own ability to alter Russia’s behavior.

The New York Times reported over the weekend that Mr. Obama has abandoned any hope of a good relationship with Putin, less than four years after he declared a successful “reset” of U.S.-Russia relations. Now, the Times reports, the president will merely look to “minimize the disruption Mr. Putin can cause, preserve whatever marginal cooperation can be saved and otherwise ignore the master of the Kremlin in favor of other foreign policy areas where progress remains possible.”

The change comes after Mr. Obama’s attempts to coax Putin into calling off pro-Russian forces occupying buildings in eastern Ukraine led nowhere. Descriptions of the phone calls between the two men issued by the White House and the Kremlin often sounded like two entirely different conversations. It was not unlike a phone call between the president and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., earlier this week that the president described as “very pleasant” while Cantor found it to be partisan posturing.

All of this sounds a little too familiar to Ron Fournier, too. After wooing Putin and failing, Obama wants to wash his hands of the Russian relationship, just as Obama did with his professed desire for bipartisanship shortly after first taking office:

The policy shift is defensible in light of Putin’s dismissal of U.S. overtures on Ukraine and the broader attempt by Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to “press the restart button” with Russia.I havebeen among the critics who have accused Obama of misjudging Putin and raising expectations beyond his capacity to meet them. …

The turnaround on Russia is no more remarkable than the pivot Obama took after the 2008 election, when he abandoned his post-partisan brand at the first sight of Republican intransigence and forced the Affordable Care Act through Congress without GOP backing. Once poisoned, the well went dry: The candidate who had the “audacity to hope” for a new kind of politics surrendered to the toxic culture he promised to change. Obama wrote off Republicans. He said House Speaker John Boehner can’t or won’t bargain on the budget, then wrapped the white flag of surrender around the debt, gun control, tax reform, immigration, and other issues. Obama stopped looking for compromises, and then expressed outrage when he couldn’t find them.

Fournier points out one especially resonant paragraph in Baker’s report, and calls it emblematic:

The more hawkish faction in the State and Defense departments has grown increasingly frustrated, privately worrying that Mr. Obama has come across as weak and unintentionally sent the message that he has written off Crimea after Russia’s annexation. They have pressed for faster and more expansive sanctions, only to wait while memos sit in the White House without action. Mr. Obama has not even imposed sanctions on a list of Russian human-rights violators waiting for approval since last winter.

That last paragraph reminds me of Democrats who privately gripe about Obama’s lack of engagement with Congress, his unwillingness to build meaningful relationships, his allegiance to polls and focus groups, and his cautious nature that, in their minds, holds him back from greatness. “He can’t handle Putin. He can’t handle Republicans,” said a veteran Democratic consultant and part-time adviser to both of Obama’s presidential campaigns. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the Democrat added, “He just is not a natural leader.”

Of course he isn’t. By nature, he’s a legislative backbencher and a superior campaigner, not a natural leader or even a competent executive. That’s why “smart power” has turned into such a disaster, and why domestic initiatives like ObamaCare were doomed to failure even apart from their structural flaws. The Obama administration careens from incompetence to incompetence, and until recently the media has seemed oddly uninterested in that dynamic. This is a great demonstration of why the first executive job on anyone’s resumé should not be the Leader of the Free World.

What can be done now, though? Putin has already signaled his readiness to challenge the West, emboldened by the flaccid response he’s seen thus far. If the West wants to keep Putin from forcing his way back into the Russian Empire, the US and EU had better prepare themselves to suffer some economic consequences for Russian isolation. Sanctions have to hit more than a few individuals in the Putin government, who will otherwise get compensated by Putin in order to keep his power balance in place. Only when Putin’s adventurism hits a broad swath of Russians will he find these policies unsustainable, and perhaps develop a little respect for international pressure. So far, this has been a cost-free trajectory for Putin and Russia, and the loss of his “relationship” with Obama clearly hasn’t bothered Putin one iota.

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and his cautious nature that, in their minds, holds him back from greatness. “He can’t handle Putin. He can’t handle Republicans,” said a veteran Democratic consultant and part-time adviser to both of Obama’s presidential campaigns. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the Democrat added, “He just is not a natural leader.”

There is gambling in Casablanca, obama-azzdwellers. It ain’t Beluga caviar. May all of you choke from what you consume.

LilliPutin figured out that the lilliputian in the WH and the maj. of the American sheeple are devoid of any principles.

obama killed the last smidgeon of pretense that the US has any moral authority.

That is obama’s greatest contribution to a world, who loves him for the destruction of the US, or the illusion of the USA.

Obama is a fraud, a street hustler, a con artist. He has never been anything more than that. His disguise is leftist ideology, and the ability to say what his ‘mark’ wants to hear.

He is a corrupt politician who uses the power (and money) of government to enrich his friends and punish his political opponents.

He is not interested in what Putin does, or Iran, or North Korea. He simply doesn’t care what happens outside the US just as long as he can dispense federal dollars to his friends and buy their loyalty.

This is what we get for electing a community organizer and the least qualifed person in the room as leader of the free world. Obama owes a debt to welfare queens and insecure single women for giving him yet another 4 years to destroy this country. Some folks are just too stupid to vote.

The “new cold war” that has ratcheted up did not being with Ukraine, it began with Syria… and then to gay rights… and the Olympics… and then Ukraine… there has been a steady anti-Russian hysteria in the media going on since last summer that bubbled right before the Olympics and burst during it…

Ronald Reagan’s America doesn’t exist anymore… trying to keep Ronald Reagan’s tough foreign policy posture would be tragic-comic. We’re a few election cycles towards the point where a “true conservative” would be spying for the FSB. It’s tragic to say this, but a nation that elects Obama twice is a nation I want having a weak foreign policy.

Sanctions have to hit more than a few individuals in the Putin government, who will otherwise get compensated by Putin in order to keep his power balance in place. Only when Putin’s adventurism hits a broad swath of Russians will he find these policies unsustainable, and perhaps develop a little respect for international pressure.

How about hitting the the newly wealthy and upper middle class Russians where it hurts? Tourist restrictions. Freezing a lot more overseas bank accounts. Stopping them from buying up Manhattan and London, etc. Seems like small potatoes but maybe if enough of the right people get hurt over there then maybe they can put some pressure, even small pressure, on Putin.

Soon he will be reduced to talking about the allies he has created or saved!! The messaging just needs to be tweaked and all will be well in the Administration. Sarah Palin was ridiculed for saying she could see Russia from Alaska. By the time “Mr. Flexible” gets done, he’ll see Russia right across from 1600 Pennsylvania Ave!!!

Someone needs to tell Barry that the 1930’s called and wants to know if he wants to continue his subscription to “Progressism Today”. Special deal, comradski; comes with Lenin Pez dispenser and V. Putin monogrammed crying towel.

Occidental College, Columbia, and Harvard Law should be ashamed of themselves for giving this guy a diploma. He doesn’t reflect well on their educational standards.

Tater Salad on April 21, 2014 at 1:06 PM

Is this a tip of the iceburg regarding their affirmative action policies? How many more like him come out of these institutions? I should think that all students/graduates (and parents/donors) from these schools should be outraged at this.

“He can’t handle Putin. He can’t handle Republicans,” said a veteran Democratic consultant and part-time adviser to both of Obama’s presidential campaigns. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the Democrat added, “He just is not a natural leader.”

What can be done now, though? Putin has already signaled his readiness to challenge the West, emboldened by the flaccid response he’s seen thus far. If the West wants to keep Putin from forcing his way back into the Russian Empire, the US and EU had better prepare themselves to suffer some economic consequences for Russian isolation. Sanctions have to hit more than a few individuals in the Putin government, who will otherwise get compensated by Putin in order to keep his power balance in place. Only when Putin’s adventurism hits a broad swath of Russians will he find these policies unsustainable, and perhaps develop a little respect for international pressure. So far, this has been a cost-free trajectory for Putin and Russia, and the loss of his “relationship” with Obama clearly hasn’t bothered Putin one iota.

Just a reminder: America has been sponsoring “color” revolutions and destabilizations, including the fascist coup in Ukraine, which clearly bothered Putin very much and still does. The “adventurism” is with the neocons; the Russians are reacting to Western aggression.

“He can’t handle Putin. He can’t handle Republicans,” said a veteran Democratic consultant and part-time adviser to both of Obama’s presidential campaigns. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the Democrat added, “He just is not a natural leader.”

Sorry about this off topic, but I’ve been away for a week. Has HA initiated a new advertising policy that has automatic audio-on for all/most ads??? Is it something I can control on my end? I have to view the blogs with the sound off.